1) Anna Karenina (by Leo Tolstoy) is the tragic story of a married aristocrat and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. The story starts when she arrives in the midst of a family broken up by her brother's unbridled womanizing—something that prefigures her own later situation, though she would experience less tolerance by others. (Полина Старцева)
2) The Brothers Karamazov (by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia, with a plot which revolves around the subject of patricide. Dostoyevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in literature.(Виолетта Коннова)
3) BOOK: Crime and Punishment (by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by comparing himself with Napoleon Bonaparte, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose. FILM: When Crime and Punishment came up in an interview, Alfred Hitchcock told French director Francois Truffaut that he would never consider filming it. Hitchcock explained that he could make a great film out of a good book, and even (or especially) a mediocre book, but never a great book, because the film would always suffer by comparison. There have been over 25 film adaptations of Crime and Punishment. There is Russian version, filmed in 1969:
(Екатерина Зайцева)
4) BOOK: Demons (by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) is a testimonial of life in Imperial Russia in the late 19th century. As the revolutionary democrats began to rise in Russia, different ideologies began to collide. Dostoyevsky casts a critical eye over both the radical idealists, portraying their ideas and ideological foundations as demonic, and the conservative establishment, portraying its ineptitude in dealing with those ideas and their social consequences. FILM:
Verbatim quoting Dostoevsky without understanding the essence of his works - a very typical phenomenon in modern Russian cinematography. All calibrated, clearly, all the scenes are registered, all the actors are chosen, all the scenery built ... but no Dostoevsky. None of his phantasmagoric world, there is a broken consciousness of his characters, no polyphony and polyphony of his works. Everything is good, nothing to complain about. But this is an illustration of the book Dostoevsky. Just picture that can be viewed when reading a book. It does not dive into the world of Dostoevsky, not understanding it, a simple repetition of the learned by hard chapters.
There is a Russian screening, including 8 episodes, filmed in 2006: (Валерия Тюрина)
5) The plot of Doctor Zhivago (by Yuri Zhivago) is long and intricate. It can be difficult to follow for two main reasons: first, Pasternak employs many characters, who interact with each other throughout the book in unpredictable ways, and second, he frequently introduces a character by one of his/her three names, then subsequently refers to that character by another of the three names or a nickname, without expressly stating that he is referring to the same character. (Эльвира Минниханова)
6) The Master and Margarita (by Mikhail Bulgakov) alternates between two settings. The first is 1930s Moscow, where Satan appears at the Patriarch Ponds in the guise of "Professor" Woland, a mysterious gentleman "magician" of uncertain origin. He arrives with a retinue that includes the grotesquely dressed valet Koroviev; the mischievous, gun-happy, fast-talking black cat Behemoth; the fanged hitman Azazello; the pale-faced Abadonna; and the witch Hella. They wreak havoc targeting the literary elite and its trade union MASSOLIT. Its privileged HQ is Griboyedov's House and is made up of corrupt social climbers and their women (wives and mistresses alike), bureaucrats, profiteers, and, more generally, skeptical unbelievers in the human spirit. (Роза Жукова)
7) Oblomov (by Ivan Goncharov) evolved and expanded from an 1849 short story or sketch entitled "Oblomov's Dream. An Episode from an Unfinished Novel", later incorporated as "Oblomov's Dream" ("Son Oblomova") as Chapter 9 in the completed 1859 novel. The novel focuses on the midlife crisis of the main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, an upper middle class son of a member of Russia's nineteenth century landed gentry. Oblomov's distinguishing characteristic is his slothful attitude towards life. While a common negative characteristic, Oblomov raises this trait to an art form, conducting his little daily business apathetically from his bed. While clearly comedic, the novel. (Антонина Ожерельева)
8) Dead Souls (by Nikolai Gogol)
The story follows the exploits of Chichikov, a middle-aged gentleman of middling social class and means. Chichikov arrives in a small town and turns on the charm to woo key local officials and landowners. He reveals little about his past, or his purpose, as he sets about carrying out his bizarre and mysterious plan to acquire "dead souls." (Диана Шеламова)
9)Heart of a Dog (by Mikhail Bulgakov) The plot: Heart of a Dog is a black-and-white 1988 Soviet film directed by Vladimir Bortko. It is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel Heart of a dog. Main characters are well-known surgeon Phillip Phillippovich Preobrazhensky, who made different experiments, and Sharik, usual dog turned into human.
After his transition to human is complete, it turns out that he inherited all the negative traits of the donor - bad manners, aggressiveness, use of profanity, heavy drinking. He picks for himself an absurd name Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov. Eventually he turns the life in the professor's house into a nightmare by stealing money, breaking his furniture and blackmailing into marriage a girl he met at the cinema. The professor with his assistant are then urged to reverse the procedure. Sharikov turns back into a dog. As Sharik he does remember little about what has happened to him but isn't much concerned about that. To his content he is left to live in the professor's apartment.
Book and film: The screen version of 1988 of M. Bulgakov's novel is famous for its attention to the original text: practically nothing was deleted for adaptation. However, there are some differences between the novel and the film (in the novel Bormental didn't meet typist in the cinema and Pyotr Alexandrovich - an important official cured by Preobrazhensky - didn't look like Stalin as it was shown in the film). The episode in which Bormental presents Sharikov who plays balalaika didn't exist in the novel. However, the phrases of Bormental were taken from the diary of Bormental which was in the original novel. Some scenes (spiritualism, circus) were taken from early Bulgakov's short stories, not from the novel. (Семеева Анастасия)
Doctor Preobrazhensky:
Sharikov:
10)The Idiot ( by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) "The Idiot" is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868 novel which tells the story of Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin who, after a long absence, returns to Russia from Switzerland where he sought treatment for his epilepsy. The story is primarily a tragic tale of the struggle for the love of a woman, Nastasya Filippovna, between Myshkin and Rogozhin, a dark and impassioned man that the Prince meets on the train to St. Petersburg. "The Idiot" is a classic tale of the conflict between good and evil. On the one hand Prince Myshkin represents Dostoyevksy's attempt to portray a Christ-like "positively good man" which is sharply contrasted with not only the dark and roguish character of Rogozhin but also with the nature of Russian upper-class society depicted in the novel. (Володичева Ксения) 11) Fathers and Sons (by Ivan Turgenev)
Fathers and Sons, also translated more literally as Fathers and Children, is an novel by Ivan Turgenev, one of his best-known works. The fathers and children of the novel refers to the growing divide between the two generations of Russians, and the character Yevgeny Bazarov, a nihilist who rejects the old order.
Fathers and Sons explores generational conflict in mid-19th century imperial Russia. Arkady and his friend Bazarov return from school with a whole new political outlook that is quick to clash with Arkady's traditionalist family. The novel captures an insight into Russian life at a time of great political change and movement. Turgenev delivers an interesting plot with which one can identify, even centuries after. (Наталия Гребёнкина)
2) The Brothers Karamazov (by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia, with a plot which revolves around the subject of patricide. Dostoyevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in literature.(Виолетта Коннова)
3) BOOK: Crime and Punishment (by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by comparing himself with Napoleon Bonaparte, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.
FILM:
When Crime and Punishment came up in an interview, Alfred Hitchcock told French director Francois Truffaut that he would never consider filming it. Hitchcock explained that he could make a great film out of a good book, and even (or especially) a mediocre book, but never a great book, because the film would always suffer by comparison.
There have been over 25 film adaptations of Crime and Punishment. There is Russian version, filmed in 1969:
(Екатерина Зайцева)
4) BOOK: Demons (by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) is a testimonial of life in Imperial Russia in the late 19th century. As the revolutionary democrats began to rise in Russia, different ideologies began to collide. Dostoyevsky casts a critical eye over both the radical idealists, portraying their ideas and ideological foundations as demonic, and the conservative establishment, portraying its ineptitude in dealing with those ideas and their social consequences.
FILM:
Verbatim quoting Dostoevsky without understanding the essence of his works - a very typical phenomenon in modern Russian cinematography. All calibrated, clearly, all the scenes are registered, all the actors are chosen, all the scenery built ... but no Dostoevsky. None of his phantasmagoric world, there is a broken consciousness of his characters, no polyphony and polyphony of his works. Everything is good, nothing to complain about. But this is an illustration of the book Dostoevsky. Just picture that can be viewed when reading a book. It does not dive into the world of Dostoevsky, not understanding it, a simple repetition of the learned by hard chapters.
There is a Russian screening, including 8 episodes, filmed in 2006:
(Валерия Тюрина)
5) The plot of Doctor Zhivago (by Yuri Zhivago) is long and intricate. It can be difficult to follow for two main reasons: first, Pasternak employs many characters, who interact with each other throughout the book in unpredictable ways, and second, he frequently introduces a character by one of his/her three names, then subsequently refers to that character by another of the three names or a nickname, without expressly stating that he is referring to the same character. (Эльвира Минниханова)
6) The Master and Margarita (by Mikhail Bulgakov) alternates between two settings. The first is 1930s Moscow, where Satan appears at the Patriarch Ponds in the guise of "Professor" Woland, a mysterious gentleman "magician" of uncertain origin. He arrives with a retinue that includes the grotesquely dressed valet Koroviev; the mischievous, gun-happy, fast-talking black cat Behemoth; the fanged hitman Azazello; the pale-faced Abadonna; and the witch Hella. They wreak havoc targeting the literary elite and its trade union MASSOLIT. Its privileged HQ is Griboyedov's House and is made up of corrupt social climbers and their women (wives and mistresses alike), bureaucrats, profiteers, and, more generally, skeptical unbelievers in the human spirit. (Роза Жукова)
7) Oblomov (by Ivan Goncharov) evolved and expanded from an 1849 short story or sketch entitled "Oblomov's Dream. An Episode from an Unfinished Novel", later incorporated as "Oblomov's Dream" ("Son Oblomova") as Chapter 9 in the completed 1859 novel. The novel focuses on the midlife crisis of the main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, an upper middle class son of a member of Russia's nineteenth century landed gentry. Oblomov's distinguishing characteristic is his slothful attitude towards life. While a common negative characteristic, Oblomov raises this trait to an art form, conducting his little daily business apathetically from his bed. While clearly comedic, the novel. (Антонина Ожерельева)
8) Dead Souls (by Nikolai Gogol)
The story follows the exploits of Chichikov, a middle-aged gentleman of middling social class and means. Chichikov arrives in a small town and turns on the charm to woo key local officials and landowners. He reveals little about his past, or his purpose, as he sets about carrying out his bizarre and mysterious plan to acquire "dead souls." (Диана Шеламова)
9) Heart of a Dog (by Mikhail Bulgakov)
The plot:
Heart of a Dog is a black-and-white 1988 Soviet film directed by Vladimir Bortko. It is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel Heart of a dog. Main characters are well-known surgeon Phillip Phillippovich Preobrazhensky, who made different experiments, and Sharik, usual dog turned into human.
After his transition to human is complete, it turns out that he inherited all the negative traits of the donor - bad manners, aggressiveness, use of profanity, heavy drinking. He picks for himself an absurd name Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov. Eventually he turns the life in the professor's house into a nightmare by stealing money, breaking his furniture and blackmailing into marriage a girl he met at the cinema. The professor with his assistant are then urged to reverse the procedure. Sharikov turns back into a dog. As Sharik he does remember little about what has happened to him but isn't much concerned about that. To his content he is left to live in the professor's apartment.
Book and film:
The screen version of 1988 of M. Bulgakov's novel is famous for its attention to the original text: practically nothing was deleted for adaptation.
However, there are some differences between the novel and the film (in the novel Bormental didn't meet typist in the cinema and Pyotr Alexandrovich - an important official cured by Preobrazhensky - didn't look like Stalin as it was shown in the film).
The episode in which Bormental presents Sharikov who plays balalaika didn't exist in the novel. However, the phrases of Bormental were taken from the diary of Bormental which was in the original novel.
Some scenes (spiritualism, circus) were taken from early Bulgakov's short stories, not from the novel. (Семеева Анастасия)
Doctor Preobrazhensky:
Sharikov:
10) The Idiot ( by Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
"The Idiot" is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868 novel which tells the story of Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin who, after a long absence, returns to Russia from Switzerland where he sought treatment for his epilepsy. The story is primarily a tragic tale of the struggle for the love of a woman, Nastasya Filippovna, between Myshkin and Rogozhin, a dark and impassioned man that the Prince meets on the train to St. Petersburg. "The Idiot" is a classic tale of the conflict between good and evil. On the one hand Prince Myshkin represents Dostoyevksy's attempt to portray a Christ-like "positively good man" which is sharply contrasted with not only the dark and roguish character of Rogozhin but also with the nature of Russian upper-class society depicted in the novel. (Володичева Ксения)
11) Fathers and Sons (by Ivan Turgenev)
Fathers and Sons, also translated more literally as Fathers and Children, is an novel by Ivan Turgenev, one of his best-known works. The fathers and children of the novel refers to the growing divide between the two generations of Russians, and the character Yevgeny Bazarov, a nihilist who rejects the old order.
Fathers and Sons explores generational conflict in mid-19th century imperial Russia. Arkady and his friend Bazarov return from school with a whole new political outlook that is quick to clash with Arkady's traditionalist family. The novel captures an insight into Russian life at a time of great political change and movement. Turgenev delivers an interesting plot with which one can identify, even centuries after. (Наталия Гребёнкина)